to be. He was a lamblike, honest, and truly good man, whom I highly
esteemed and loved, and who had some regard for me I am sure. Would you
believe it, he wrote me a week after signing the Concordat that he much
regretted having done so, that his conscience reproached him for it, and
urged me earnestly to consider it as of no effect. This was owing to the
fact that immediately after leaving me he had fallen into the hands of
his usual advisers, who made a scarecrow out of what had just occurred.
If we had been together I could easily have reassured him. I replied
that what he demanded was contrary to the interests of France; and
moreover, being infallible, he could not have made a mistake, and his
conscience was too quick to take the alarm for him to have done wrong.

"In fact, compare the condition of Rome formerly with what it is to-day.
Paralyzed by the necessary consequences of the Revolution, could she have
risen again and maintained her position? A vicious government as to
political matters has taken the place of the former Roman legislation,
which, without being perfect, nevertheless contributed to form great men
of every kind. Modern Rome has applied to its political government
principles better suited to a religious order, and has carried them out
in a manner fatal to the happiness of the people.

"Thus charity is the most perfect of Christian virtues; it is necessary
to give charity to all who ask it. This form of reasoning has rendered
Rome the receptacle of the dregs of all nations. One sees collected
there (so I am told, for I have never visited it) all the idlers of the
earth, who come thither to take refuge, assured of finding an abundant
support with much to spare. And thus the papal territory, which nature
has destined to produce immense wealth from its situation under a
favorable sky, from the multiplicity of streams with which it is watered,
and above all from the fertility of the soil, languishes for want of